Cootamundra said:
SSS, I suggest you talk with Aussie Digger, he's served in both regular and the chooks so he can tell you exactly what it's like. From all of my discussions and many similar thoughts to yours (at a similar age), i think the AUS army would be great place to work, so long as you can handle a bit of authority, be preapred to work hard and be able to put up with a far amount of bullsh!t. If I had my time again I'd go for it! Cheers....
Give it a go mate, you get to fire machine guns and blow sh*t up!!! Where else can you do that in Australia (legally)? The pay's not bad for a young bloke, you get to see a fair bit of this Country, and more and more of other Countries.
Back when I was in, we're were lucky if the battalion got a single overseas trip every 2 years (and that was for an exercise). Nowadays Digs are on continual deployment. Each battalion deploys troops either to SECDET (Security Detachment Iraq) or Op Anode (Soloman Islands) almost every year.
The continued Al Muthana deployments also mean more troops will be required for 5/7 and 2 Cav Regt in the next year or so (as troops are posted out of those units to other units to build up experience levels throughout army and as part of normal posting cycles) and hence the battalions will require fresh troops. In addition there's a fair chance that more deployments are on the horizon, either in SE Asia or the Pacific region, or back to the ME.
Along with the opportunities the operational deployments provide (excellent pay, active service/infantry combat medals, overseas travel etc) the Army is also starting to get some truly world class kit as a result of actually needing said kit to perform ops (as opposed to peace time exercises, where such kit can be hypothetically present)...
There are a couple of downsides, you should be prepared to get told how to live your life, (even when not on duty) you'll get told where you WILL live your life (for 3 years at a time anyway), and what to do, and precisely when... You have to prepared to put up with some absolute knobs, (even if you're an officer) and sometimes (particularly in an Arms Corps unit) you'll get absolutely smashed with work, until you think you can't do anything more...
If I were 19 again, right now, I'd sign up for the regular army in a second. Anything else you might want to do career wise, can probably wait. I myself wanted to be a police officer for a career, and I have achieved this, but I could have joined the police just as easily at 40, as I did at 24. I joined the Army at 17, and enjoyed almost all of it, and only quit (the reserves) in the end, A) because of a person that I couldn't deal with at the time (and I couldn't avoid him) and because I joined a police service.
Even if you end up hating the Army, you're only 19 right now. At worst you'll have to serve 4 years once you sign up. You'll be 22 (and 6 months) when you can apply to discharge (you have to give 6 months notice when you discharge from the regular army, nowadays and they offer you almost everything under the sun to stay in that time too)...
My advice, sign up and join the Infantry or Armoured Corps as a digger. Don't join a support unit, you'll be a pogue and lose my respect!!!
(Only kidding, pogues have their place...) Don't join Artillery, you'll never deploy anywhere much short of a serious war, and it's bloody hard work manhandling a gun, or so a "drop short" friend of mine tells me (smirk)... Don't become an officer, unless you want to make a career out of the ADF, and you can always do that down the track anyway if you want to.
That's my 2 cents anyway. Feel free to ask any questions, that's what I'm here for...
